Leaving a Qualified Legacy

I’ve emphasized the idea of legacy as we wrapped up almost every aspect of our look at building strength through great professional relationships; that hasn’t been accidental and it will continue. I’ve mentioned a few times to this point how I feel a heavy obligation to pay forward the many blessings I have in my life that have come directly from those who have been willing to mentor me, one on one and from a distance. Don’t misunderstand me here, though, this is one of the most exciting obligations I’ve ever worked to fulfill.

By building a qualified network of best-in-class professionals around us and consistently working to sustain (and build) our own qualifications that helped open the doors to those relationships, we have opportunities to reach people we likely never would have otherwise. When we’re willing to keep investing beyond any credential we receive along the way, any mentorship we offer builds toward the legacy we leave and adds to our own qualification; it’s an amazingly positive perpetuating cycle. That said, the inverse can be just as true if we choose to rest solely on a certificate that’s been hanging on our wall for decades that we’ve never put into practice.

In a session Cindy and I presented recently, one of the participants called me out for piling on to the already heavy workload she carried in her role, saying that “Leaders can’t be responsible for everything. We need to hold the individuals on our teams accountable, too.” I realized that I hadn’t clarified my view on leadership, which has nothing to do with title or position and everything to do with earning influence at every level. I explained that I believed everyone in every organization has responsibility for positively influencing the people they interact with so the team achieves the necessary results. She appreciated that explanation and was remarkably engaged for the remainder of the session. Since I’ve mentioned legacy so often, I want to make sure we’re on the same page. I’m in no way suggesting this as something we look at that serves selfish motives, it’s anything but that.

As I worked through the Maxwell Leadership certification process more than a decade ago, I remember hearing some of the faculty members say that we were “the legs to John’s legacy.” I also remember John sharing adamantly opposed he initially was to naming the organization after himself. None of the companies he had owned to that point even hinted at his name; INJOY, EQUIP, Maximum Impact, etc. His interest was always in building a legacy of positive leadership, not something that exulted himself in any way. He has always modeled the humility I detailed earlier. Around that same time, I realized that I was going to need to come up with a name for our business. Understanding exactly where John was coming from, I did the only logical thing: I named it after myself. Well, not exactly… Truth be told, going with Dove Development & Consulting was more me not having any other ideas and just wanting to have something in place. While I’ve never been under the illusion that we’ll ever have a reach like John’s, I’ve also never had the slightest bit of interest in receiving accolades for what we do. I want any legacy we leave to be because we developed the qualifications necessary to make a positive impact on the people we’ve worked with.

Thankfully, we’ve already had the honor of seeing that legacy take shape; through our kids, the former co-workers, and in leaders with the many organizations we’ve served. That said, I can easily tie all of that back to what we’ve learned from our mentors. If anything, we’re building on the legacy of folks like John Maxwell, Mark Cole, Terry Ward, Kevin Arnold, Rod Little, Chris Rollins, and so many more. We’ve just worked extremely hard to make sure we’re genuinely qualified to carry their legacies forward. Interestingly enough, each of the mentors I’ve mentioned by name - and so many others I’ve learned from over the years - have all had their own very unique strengths. For me, recognizing who knows what I don’t know has been incredibly powerful. We’ll dig into that next. First though, don’t ever underestimate how much a legacy of qualification inspires others through relational impact. My challenge for you now is to routinely look for ways you can share practical lessons that build toward your qualified legacy; a framed certificate will never get that job done…